FF: XOXO Quilt

My Memaw had a big birthday this year. My family gathered to celebrate with her, but I was unable to join them, which was sad with a capital 'S'.

But I wanted to make something to celebrate, even if it's delivery will be several months after her birthday. I used the Squares and Strips tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew for this quilt, and its construction was easy peasy. It also makes the most of those fat quarters, something I really really appreciate. For fabric, I used a bundle of Happy Go Lucky from Bonnie and Camille. The colors in this line are my Memaw's absolute favorites. Navy, white, red? Um, yes. She's all over that.

For quilting, I straight line quilted a crosshatch grid. It's been awhile since I've wrestled such a large quilt, and it's the first time I've quilted something so large with Stella! She ate this up like a champ. (The walking foot also helped.)

For the back, I've used a couple of prints I had in stash.

My Memaw is a letter-writer, and when I was a kid, she always signed letters to me, "xoxo". It was something I was unfamiliar with, and when my mom explained what it meant, I was chuffed. And that little detail has always stuck with me. So I was excited to see the xoxo message in this fabric for the back, and it also serves as this quilt's name.

This is finish 3 from my Q3 FAL list.

Midnight Mystery Quilt Progress.

I never ever ever thought I'd want to do a mystery quilt. Because OMG, what if I hated the finished product and had wasted good fabric? But for some reason, the Midnight Mystery Quilt by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs sounded like fun.

Initial Fabric Pull.

It helps that I really liked last year's quilt.

August's Flying Geese.

And Yvonne is participating. And Alison. And all three of our quilts are going to be crazy different in totally awesome way, and I'm fascinated by how they are all coming together.

September's Square in a Square blocks.

I am SO excited to see how this progresses. Are you participating too? I'd love to see yours, so share a link with me, k?

A Baby Quilt Start.

Sometimes baby quilt inspiration is easy, and I know exactly what I want to do. But sometimes it's not. In that case, I usually use my go-to baby quilt pattern, Northern Lights by Jaybird Quilts. (I've made three different incarnations.) This time, my ideas kept conspiring against me. I couldn't find a palette that I was happy with. I waffled between colors, finally settling on a blue ombre, but then I couldn't find a blue ombre kona list online. True. Story.

I pulled out my blue stash, but wasn't feeling any inspiration there. I perused fabric stores online but couldn't decide on anything. I pulled out my blue scraps, more out of frustration than anything else, but they were a hot mess, so I started sorting them into itty bitty, larger pieces, and strings. And I had a mountain of strings.

Then, I remembered this idea that I considered a few months ago. Blue Elephant Stitches decided to pick a quilt book and make a version of every quilt in the book. I thought that sounded like a pretty rad idea, but I didn't know of a book where I liked more than three or four things. That changed when I encountered Modern Rainbow by Rebecca Bryan. I LOVE this book. I love almost every single quilt in it. Why not start my own quilt book journey and use this baby quilt as a jumping off point?

I'm working on my version of Bubbles. I used Bryan's hearth size and finished block size as my goal, but my log cabins are improv-y, mostly because my strings were all different sizes. I'm using fewer blocks as I only want a baby size, not a lap size. But this quilt is going to look rad when it's done, and I'm excited about it. I'm also really enjoying the piecing process. Sorting through strings, plucking out the one that works best, trying to keep my lights and darks balanced...ah. This is a happy Audrey.

Or I would be, if I wasn't fighting a cold. It's mild, and I imagine I'll be back to order tomorrow, but can I just whine about it for a minute? And also mention that I've been sucking down this tea, which I was recently gifted for my birthday. It's super tasty.

Can I also just mention that I find it hilarious and ironic that TODAY, Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl posted the most perfect blue kona ombre list. I'm taking it as a sign that I was supposed to make this quilt instead of the other one. But it's still funny. And I'm totally bookmarking that list in case I need it in the future. And in case you were looking for a blue ombre list...you're welcome.